BY PATRICIA MAZZEI, AMY SHERMAN AND KATHLEEN MCGRORY

An attempt by the Miami-Dade elections department to let more people vote early Sunday devolved into chaos after the department was overwhelmed with voters.

The department locked its doors about an hour into the four-hour operation without explanation, then said it would resume allowing voters to request and cast absentee ballots in person. Miami-Dade had opened its Doral headquarters from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. as a work-around to a provision in state law that eliminated early voting the Sunday before Election Day.

Anyone in line by 5 p.m. at the Doral elections headquarters at 2700 NW 87th Ave. will be allowed to vote, department spokeswoman Christina White said at 3 p.m. The department brought in a second ballot printer and more staffers to re-open.

Shortly before the temporary shutdown an hour earlier, the department had said it would not be able to accommodate more than the around 180 voters who were in line by 2 p.m. Then the office shut its doors, and people in line started shouting, “Let us vote!”

Some voters who had parked in a lot across the street saw their cars getting towed.

“This is America, not a third-world country,” said Myrna Peralta, who waited in line with her 4-year-old grandson for nearly two hours before being turned away. “They should have been prepared.”

When it opened its doors, the department had only one ballot-printing machine, five voting booths and two staffers to assist voters. The office said it was overwhelmed by voters.

“We had the best of intentions to provide this service today,” White had said. “We just can’t accommodate it to the degree that we would like to.”

Miami-Dade had announced Sunday morning that it would allow voters to request, fill out and turn in absentee ballots on the spot for four hours in the afternoon after the Florida Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in the wee hours seeking to somehow extend voting in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties before Election Day.

State law allows elections supervisors to accept in-person absentee ballots through 7 p.m. Tuesday — including Sunday, at the elections supervisor’s discretion. Miami-Dade had planned to open Sunday only for voters to drop off absentee ballots.

Broward, which had not initially followed suit, said early Sunday afternoon it would also try to accommodate voters — but they would have to wait until voters who made appointments cast their ballots first.

But possibly because the county did not announce that possibility, there were no voters in line at about 3 p.m. Sunday at the Lauderhill satellite office located at 1501 NW 40th Ave. Poll workers said they had assisted voters who had appointments to pick up their ballots as well as voters who had dropped by without an appointment to fill out a ballot.

Broward is accepting new appointment requests for Monday at 954-712-1964 and 954-712-1974.

The Palm Beach elections supervisor announced Sunday morning that the county would also allow in-person absentee voting. So did two counties in the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas and Hillsborough.

Voters across the state can request and cast absentee ballots in person Monday.

The Democrats’ lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court, argues that an emergency judge’s order is necessary to “extend voting opportunities” before Tuesday in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, including allowing voters to cast absentee ballots in person at supervisor of elections’ offices.

The three counties combined have nearly 1.6 million registered Democratic voters, who represent about 32 percent of all the state’s registered Democrats, according to state voter rolls. The Palm Beach elections supervisor announced Sunday morning that the county would also allow in-person absentee voting.

It’s unclear exactly what more a court could do, two days before Election Day. The lawsuit does not ask U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz to re-open all early-voting sites.

An attorney for the Miami-Dade elections supervisor filed a motion Sunday morning saying the lawsuit is moot to the county because it would allow for in-person absentee voting Sunday afternoon.

According to the lawsuit, “inadequate polling facilities” in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach led to lines in some cases between six and seven hours long — longer than elsewhere in the state, the lawsuit says. Voters in line when the polls closed at 7 p.m. were allowed to vote; Miami-Dade checked in its last voter at around 1 a.m. Sunday morning.

“The extraordinarily long lines deterred or prevented voters from waiting to vote. Some voters left the polling sites upon learning of the expected wait, and others refused to line up altogether,” the lawsuit says. “These long lines and extreme delays unduly and unjustifiably burdened the right to vote.”

The lawsuit cites requests made to Republican Gov. Rick Scott to extend voting hours by executive authority. Scott said Thursday night he would not extend the hours, following requests from Democrats and Democratic-leaning groups.

On Friday, Monroe County Elections Supervisor Harry Sawyer Jr., a Republican, sent the governor a letter asking for more hours. Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner responded that the reports he was receiving from elections supervisors across the state were positive about early voting.

Scott signed a law last year reducing the number of early-voting days to eight from 14 and eliminating voting on the Sunday before Election Day, which Democrats used to turn out supporters in 2008. The new law guarantees one Sunday of early voting.

The number of maximum hours offered stayed the same on the books, but four years ago, then-Gov. Charlie Crist effectively extended early voting by another 24 hours.

The lawsuit sues Detzner, along with three elections supervisors: Penelope Townsley of Miami-Dade, Brenda Snipes of Broward and Susan Bucher of Palm Beach. The Florida Democratic Party has hired some big-name attorneys: Kendall Coffey, Michael Olin, Bruce Rogow and Seth Miles.

In a statement, party chairman Rod Smith blamed the GOP-controlled Legislature for passing the law reducing the number of early-voting days.

“Because of Gov. Scott’s refusal to follow precedent and extend early voting hours in the face of unprecedented voter turnout in South Florida, we are requesting in federal court that more Floridians have a meaningful chance to early vote,” Smith said.

Separately, the party sued in Orlando circuit court asking to extend early-voting hours in that county after a bomb scare temporarily closed an early-voting site. Sunday morning, a judge ruled that the Winter Park early-voting site should open Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

florida is ridiculous. after this election, they need to revamp the way that it handles elections...i thought that last election was bad, and then the 2000 election had problems as well. this is not fair to the voters at all.

eta: "When it opened its doors, the department had only one ballot-printing
machine, five voting booths and two staffers to assist voters. The
office said it was overwhelmed by voters."

I am filing a complaint because I requested my ballot early last month and did not receive it until Oct. 31st which supposed to be the deadline. There is some fraud in FL happening with the whole absentee ballot process

the response

XXXXX ran into the same problem. She spent days on the phone with the Miami-Dade Election Department. They sent her two absentee ballots never mysteriously arrived, eventually forcing her to ask a friend to pick up her ballot and overnight it to us. Though it won't solve your immediate issue, please report your story to 866-Our-Vote. The Election Protection Coalition (http://www.866ourvote.org/) is gathering stories like yours to determine patterns of voter suppression. This will be incredibly useful in the event an election-related lawsuit (which is remarkably common in FL) is necessary.

bunny, it's official. i got the article off of msn and read it on a couple of other websites, like the WSJ website and Huff.Post website before I posted just to make sure.

you're right though, there are so many scams out there that you can't be too careful.

yeah I saw it said Reuters & associated press in ur post, So I believe it. But I'll damned if dude wasnt JUST talking about it on washington Watch today. I tried to find the clip for you, but it isn't posted yet. They got ppl thinking that u can vote door to door, by telephone, & by TEXT!!! I was like *weebay gif** I'mma post it when it becomes available

I am filing a complaint because I requested my ballot early last month and did not receive it until Oct. 31st which supposed to be the deadline. There is some fraud in FL happening with the whole absentee ballot process

the response

XXXXX ran into the same problem. She spent days on the phone with the Miami-Dade Election Department. They sent her two absentee ballots never mysteriously arrived, eventually forcing her to ask a friend to pick up her ballot and overnight it to us. Though it won't solve your immediate issue, please report your story to 866-Our-Vote. The Election Protection Coalition (http://www.866ourvote.org/) is gathering stories like yours to determine patterns of voter suppression. This will be incredibly useful in the event an election-related lawsuit (which is remarkably common in FL) is necessary.

i hope that this happens. its so necessary, especially in FL. i have a friend that lives in Miami and she was given the runaround w/ her absentee ballot as well.

ok so i am mad as . I registered to vote welll in advance because I was registered in another town that I lived in. As soon as I moved back I sent my application in. Never got my voter registration card. I went to vote early and they said I'm not registered. Then I get a letter in the mail saying I need to redo my application a few days before the election. :( Here's the catch, I get the Letter October 30. The letter said it was written October 13. The letter told me I have 10 days from the time this letter was written to fill my application out so I can vote 30 days after I sent my original application (so since I sent it in early, I would have made the deadline to vote). But since it is past 10 days they are telling me I can't vote even though I received it late. So I can do provisional voting?

Texas will do anything to barr democrats from voting. My auntie even warned my mom and I saying they will try to say something is incorrect on my application and send another one back to me late. I should have pressed the issue more. UGHHHHH

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